


The Hollow

by comebacknow



Series: 31 Days of Drarroween [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Creepy Creature, Detention, Hogwarts Third Year, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26774884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comebacknow/pseuds/comebacknow
Summary: After an incident in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry and Draco find themselves in detention during their 3rd year. Their detention? Traipsing around the Forbidden Forest (because that's apparently what Hogwarts finds appropriate for young students). But during their punishment, Harry and Draco come across something creepy in the forest and have to find a way to keep out of danger.
Series: 31 Days of Drarroween [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951957
Comments: 9
Kudos: 9





	The Hollow

**Author's Note:**

> Day One of 31 Days of Drarroween!
> 
> This drabble can be read as a standalone.
> 
> Written originally for my lovely girlfriend. <3

* * *

Harry’s trainers press into the damp earth below him. There’s a wet orange leaf stuck to one of them that he can only see through the small slivers of moonlight that sneak through the branches above. He should’ve worn boots, but he didn’t think it’d be this muddy. 

It’s not his first time in the forbidden forest, of course. He’d been sent out here for detention once before back in first year. And then, of course, there was last year when he and Ron had ventured out here willingly and were attacked by a ton of giant acromantulas. He doesn’t have a big fear of spiders - not as bad as Ron, at least - but that night was enough to make him give the ones he finds in the corners of the corridors a wide berth.

Now, in his third year, he’s stuck traipsing through the thick, muddy floor as yet another punishment. This time it really wasn’t his fault. The fault belongs to the person he’s stuck out here with: Draco Malfoy. 

Harry had just been minding his business, really. Professor Lupin had been reviewing last year’s lessons (given that Professor Lockhart hadn’t actually successfully taught them anything). They were practicing a simple stunning spell and they were meant to be practicing it on the small imps that Lupin had provided them all. 

However, when Malfoy had decidedly “mis-aimed” his wand and the spell zipped past Harry’s ear, it was really hard for Harry not to send one immediately back. He would’ve been able to avoid it, too, if Draco hadn’t had that annoying sneer on his face as he turned to Crabbe and Goyle. 

“Too bad,” he’d drawled loud enough for Harry to hear, “if I had actually hit him, I’d be able to hand him over to Sirius Black, myself! You heard, of course, he’s the reason You-Know-Who even found the Potters?” 

Hermione tried holding him back, but Harry couldn’t take it anymore. He darted forward toward Malfoy ready to give him an earful. However, Malfoy had other plans. He sent another stunning spell in Harry’s direction. Harry, for all his credit, dodged to the left just in time. Only, the spell found a mark in the center of Ron’s chest instead and knocked him unceremoniously to the floor.

Before Draco even got his full laugh out, Harry sent a stunning spell his way, but Draco had quickly pulled Crabbe over in front of him as a shield. Once Crabbe hit the floor, Professor Lupin had finally gained everyone’s attention. 

Harry and Malfoy were to, of course, be punished. Lupin tried to just simply deduct points, but McGonagall and Snape decided on an even worse solution.

So now Harry and Malfoy are spending their evening traipsing through the Forbidden Forest collecting bat droppings for Professor Sprout. Harry didn’t bother listening to the reasons why. Malfoy and bat droppings were enough of a punishment. 

He thinks he can see a clump of them by the roots of another tree, and he’s about to squat down to scoop them into the bucket when he feels something smack him in the back of the head. He turns to see Malfoy laughing and pelting him with droppings, and Harry immediately flings an arm up to block his face.

“Come on, Malfoy! Even you can’t be this disgusting!”

“What?” Malfoy snorts. “Isn’t this what you used to eat for a snack in that little cupboard of yours?”

Harry can feel the anger swelling up inside of him, but knows there’s no use in acting on it. He turns around again in time to feel another piece hit the back of his neck and drop down beneath the jumper he’s wearing. Hopping on the spot, he shakes out his jumper until it falls out.

“I’ve gotta entertain myself _somehow_ ,” Malfoy complains, throwing the remaining one in his hand at the tree instead. “This is boring, and disgusting. I wouldn’t even make a house elf do this crap.”

“Well you can’t, since I freed him on you,” Harry says, smirk curling on his face.

He can just about see the way Malfoy’s eyes narrow in the darkness. “Yeah, thanks for that by the way.”

“Oh no, did poor Malfoy have to make his own bed in the morning?” Harry taunts, feigning a sad face.

Malfoy’s face shifts into a scowl and he turns from him, stamping in the mud toward another tree off to the side.

“Don’t tell me making fun of you doing chores is all it would’ve taken to get you to stop being a prat?” Harry laughs.

“You’d know all about doing chores wouldn’t you?” Malfoy spits back. “I bet your parents made you do them all the time - oh _wait._ ”

Harry bites down on his tongue as heat rises up his neck. He turns back to the droppings by the root of the tree, trying to ignore the pressure behind his eyes. He squats down and starts scooping up the droppings quickly, wanting this detention to be over sooner rather than later.

The thing about Malfoy is that he always goes for the lowest of blows. It’s one thing to bicker with classmates - Hell, Harry has had his fair share of arguments with Ron over quidditch teams or which of the Four Sorcerers of the Hall were more powerful. But Malfoy always seemed to go for the dig that hurts most. 

There’s a crunching sound that interrupts his thoughts and he rolls his eyes as he scoops up another pile of droppings into the bucket. 

That’s another thing about Malfoy - he’s always so frigging loud. He boasts loudly in the halls so that it echoes off the stone walls, he’s always making sure his group are the loudest in the Great Hall, he even _flies_ loudly during Quidditch and Harry didn’t even know that was possible. And now, in the middle of the forest, he has no qualms about stomping on every twig and leaf he can find.

There’s a slurping sound that immediately follows this and Harry sighs. “Can you _please_ be a little quiet?” he asks, turning to look over his shoulder. 

Malfoy is leaning against a tree with his brows furrowed and arms folded, bucket hanging off two of his fingers. “I’m not doing anything,” he snaps. 

“You’re making a raucous.”

One of Malfoy’s brows quirks up. “By standing here?”

Harry’s eyes narrow. “Have you even been collecting bat droppings?”

“You’re kidding me with that question, right?”

Harry opens his mouth to remind Malfoy that they can’t return with empty buckets but there’s another crunching sound that cuts him off. This time he’s staring at Malfoy and with a tightening in his stomach realizes that Malfoy is doing nothing that would actually make that sound. 

In fact, the only movement that _does_ come from Malfoy is a slight narrowing of his eyes as he looks back at Harry.

“What was that?” Harry asks.

“I don’t know. Like I said, _I’m_ not _doing_ anything.”

“Yeah, I see that, Malfoy.” Harry sighs irritably and stands up. He looks around the forest, but as far as he can see, they’re only surrounded by trees. 

The slurping sound echoes out again from the forest. Harry’s eyes shift from tree to tree and then land on Draco again who seems to be having the same reaction.

There’s a slight rustling and then another crunch somewhere far off to the left - deeper in the forest.

“It’s coming from this way,” Harry says as he points toward the sound. “Come on.”

“‘Come on’? Are you nuts?” 

Harry blinks at him.

“Why would you walk _towards_ the creepy sound in the middle of the forest at night?”

“It’s hardly six o’clock.”

“It’s dark,” Malfoy sneers. “I’m not going over there.”

“Fine,” Harry says rolling his eyes. He steps forward in the thick wet dirt. “Wait here by yourself then.”

“I’m not gonna stand here by myself,” Malfoy hisses at him. “Why are you going over there? _Brave_ Harry Potter just _has_ to go investigate what the weird sounds are.”

Harry ignores him and skirts around another tree. A second later there’s a rustling behind him and he spins in time to see Malfoy hop over a gnarled root and step up to him with a glare.

“You’re so annoying.”

“You’re such a coward.”

“No, I’m just smart enough not to willingly walk into danger. Do you not remember the scary hooded guy drinking unicorn blood last time we were in here? I haven’t forgotten that.”

Harry rolls his eyes and turns around. Of course he remembers that day. It’d been Voldemort they’d seen, though evidently Malfoy hasn’t seemed to put that together for himself. He also remembers the way Malfoy went running and screaming in the other direction. 

A twig snaps behind him and Harry freezes until Malfoy bumps into him. Harry sighs and clenches his teeth together.

“Why’d you stop?” Malfoy whispers.

“Because you’re being incredibly loud. There _are_ parts of the floor that don’t have twigs, you know that, right?”

“I’m not looking at the floor, Potter. I’m looking around us to make sure nothing weird comes darting out from behind a tree and tries to kill us.”

“Us?” Harry asks, quirking a brow.

“Don’t get excited. If something dives at us, I’m pushing you in the way.”

“Like you did to your friend Crabbe in Defense class?” Harry says, continuing toward where he heard another crunching sound.

“What’s the use in having friends if they don’t protect you?”

Harry snorts. “Always what _you_ can get out of a situation, isn’t it?”

“What’s that supposed to--?”

“Shh!” Harry stops suddenly and holds a hand up. In a small sliver of moonlight, he can see a shadow on the forest floor. Where it had been moving, it suddenly freezes - the sounds coming from that direction stopped.

Harry watches as the person’s shadow drops something and then whatever it is rolls into view from behind the tree. His eyes land on the dead bat, but that’s not what makes his stomach turn. Where the bat’s head should be, it’s simply gone as if it had been pulled off - or eaten.

“What the hell?” Malfoy breathes from behind him.

Harry turns his head a bit, but keeps his eyes on the shadow on the floor which still seems frozen. “Slowly,” he says, barely audible, “and quietly. Back up.”

He can _hear_ Malfoy _swallow_. He’s always so damn loud.

Harry takes a small step back, and then another. His third step back, he steps on Malfoy’s shoe and Malfoy hisses through his teeth.

It all happens very quickly - the shadow jolts and then there’s a hand at Harry’s chest pulling him to the side. He just catches a glimpse of a figure darting out from behind the tree before he’s suddenly got his back pressed against damp bark in almost pitch blackness. He looks down to see a pale hand gripping the front of his jumper and then turns his head to find Malfoy pressed next to him, horror on his face as he stares out behind him at the forest.

Harry flicks his eyes around him and then finally realizes where he is. Malfoy’s pulled them into a hollow hole carved into a tree, and now they’re both hidden in the shadow of it and out of sight. He turns his head to Malfoy who just subtly shakes his head.

Where Malfoy’s chest is pressed against Harry’s arm, he can feel the way Malfoy’s heart is pounding. It probably matches his own. He looks down again to where Malfoy’s hand is still gripping the front of his jumper at his chest and wonders idly if Malfoy can feel it. 

There’s an uneven sound outside then that catches Harry’s attention. The person, creature or whatever it is seems to be coming closer. It sounds like there’s an uneven sort of gait to it. Harry’s eyes catch on a shadow that appears on the forest floor again and he can feel Malfoy’s body tense against his arm. 

Malfoy lets out a small shaky breath and Harry shoots his free hand up quickly to cover his mouth.

In the darkness, Harry can just about make out the way Malfoy’s brows dip in the center. Harry barely moves his head back and forth to tell him not to make a sound, and then both of their eyes flick to the side to watch as the figure comes into view. 

It’s a tall, gangling thing whose arms hang low, its hands curling down by its knees. Its legs are long and skeletal and never seem to straighten all the way, so it’s always crouched as it walks. Its spine is hunched over with six pointed vertebrae poking out through its gray skin with dried black goo around them. Its head swivels around, looking out into the forest from where Malfoy and Harry had originally come. 

Harry feels Malfoy’s hand tighten at his jumper even more and his body presses closer against him. Harry stretches out the fingers of his left hand where it’s pinned down by Malfoy’s hip. He presses his fingers against Malfoy almost as a reminder that he’s not alone. He doesn’t know why he does it, but he can feel the way Malfoy’s body loosens almost imperceptibly. There’s a sort of unspoken comfort threaded inside of the panic that’s taken over the hole of this small, hollow tree, knowing that they’re in this together. 

The creature’s head swivels around again and looks off to the side, past their tree, but Harry’s heart stalls. Its mouth, if you could call it that, looks like it was just split open from its face, and from it - six long, pointed teeth protrude. There’s no nose, from what Harry can tell, and its eyes are two small pinpricks of white-ish blue glow.

Harry feels Malfoy’s jaw tighten beneath his hand, and Harry presses his fingers against Malfoy’s hip again. The only response of acknowledgement is Malfoy’s hand in his jumper, squeezing the material once.

There’s a loud bark then that echoes into the forest and the creature’s head snaps forward toward the school grounds.

“Harry!” Hagrid’s voice bellows out into the forest. “Mr. Malfoy!”

The creature seems to shrink in on itself and then it springs away out of their vision and off into the darkness from where it came. 

A short, quick exhale chokes out of Harry’s mouth and Malfoy’s hand slowly unclenches around the jumper. They meet eyes again as Hagrid calls out for them once more.

“Do you know what that was?” Harry asks, barely above a whisper as Fang’s bark sounds out again.

Malfoy’s brows slowly lift in the center. 

“Have you ever seen something like that before?”

Malfoy gives Harry a frustrated look and then yanks his head back from Harry’s hand. “It’s a lot easier to answer your stupid questions when your hand isn’t covering my mouth.”

Harry exhales then and drops his hand.

He looks down as Malfoy’s hand slowly uncurls from where it’s been gripping his jumper. A small _ow_ escapes Malfoy’s mouth as he stretches his fingers out and curls them again. 

“Harry!” Hagrid yells out again.

“We should…” Harry nods out to the forest.

“Yeah,” Malfoy nods and steps back from Harry’s arm and ducks out from the hollow of the tree into the forest. He looks quickly around him to make sure the creature is gone. 

Harry steps out behind him and his eyes land on his silver bucket he’d dropped when Malfoy pulled him into the tree. 

“Mr. Malfoy?” Hagrid yells.

Malfoy scowls. “Can you yell and tell that oaf that we’re here? He’s gonna attract that thing if he keeps screaming like that.”

“Why don’t you just tell him?” Harry asks, picking up the bucket and ignoring the pile of droppings that fell out of it. 

“Do I look like someone who raises their voice above a reasonable volume?” Malfoy frowns, disgusted.

Harry snorts and starts leading the way toward Hagrid’s voice. “You look like someone who shrieks and runs away when you’re scared.”

“I was eleven,” Malfoy bites. “And if I recall correctly, I’m the one who made sure we didn’t die just now.”

“About that,” Harry says, letting out a small laugh. He turns over his shoulder to look at Malfoy. “What happened to pushing me in the way and saving yourself?”

Malfoy rolls his eyes and waves Harry’s question away.

“Harry?”

“We’re here, Hagrid!” Harry calls out, a bit of a laugh behind his words. He looks forward and finally Hagrid comes out from between two trees. 

“Ah, there yeh are,” he says, sighing in relief. There’s a lantern bobbing in his hand and Fang appears from behind him, sniffing at the ground. The dog trots over to Harry and sniffs and his shoes and then over to Malfoy. He sniffs at Malfoy’s shoes and then up at his side, dropping slobber onto his pants.

“Ugh,” Malfoy says. He tentatively reaches out a hand and brushes his fingers against Fang’s head. 

“Detention’s over,” Hagrid says. “I’m ter get yeh back up to the castle now. All set?” 

“Yeah, we’re ready,” Harry nods. 

Malfoy pulls his hand back from Fang when Fang starts licking it, and he folds his arms, tucking his hands beneath them as he starts walking forward. “ _What_?” he snaps at Harry when he walks past. 

“Nothing,” Harry snorts and then follows Malfoy and Hagrid through the forest. He spends the remaining walk back to the castle thinking back on what he and Malfoy had seen from the tree. He’s never seen anything that looked like that creature in any of his school books. He wonders if he’d be able to grab a hold of Professor Lupin at some point and ask him about it. He’d bet anything Hermione might have some answers from some book she’s checked out of the library or something of the sort. 

They break out of the trees and he sighs a breath of relief out as he sees the castle, free from the darkness of the forest. A breeze catches the back of his neck and he shivers and wipes a bit of damp bark from his neck where he was pressed inside of the tree. He looks down and, in the moonlight, he can see the wrinkled ball of his jumper in the center of his chest where Malfoy’s hand had tangled itself against it, holding Harry to the tree.

Malfoy had saved him. Malfoy had pushed him into the hollow of the tree before he’d even gotten in himself. And that, above even the creature, might be what’s causing the most pressing question in Harry’s mind.


End file.
